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Call for Publications Theme: The Philosophy of Human Rights Obligations and Omissions Publication: Philosophies Date: Special Issue Deadline: 30.6.2021 __________________________________________________ The main topic of this Special Issue is human rights omissions. States as the primary human rights duty bearers are found wanting more often than not, failing to respect, protect and fulfill human rights according to the commitments made. Such omissions are hinged on the existence of obligations; thus, the two should be discussed in relation to each other. We welcome papers from a wide variety of philosophical and multi-disciplinary perspectives (philosophy, law, political science, economy, theology, etc.) that address these topics and the relationships between them. Despite the many formal political achievements in the form of declarations, bills and treaties, actual human rights implementation remains illusionary to the majority of humans. The reasons are manyfold and include (1) deliberately vague terminology in legal documents, (2) a lack of national codification, (3) weak and failing states, (4) the inherently voluntary nature of commitments made by sovereign states and (5) the unclear responsibility of dominant and obtrusive actors such as large multinational corporations. Problems such as these are known to states and grassroots activist alike, yet the common conclusion seems to be to proceed with caution. A possible explanation for this could be that the feasibility of new reforms is unclear to all, while the risks in terms of a possible loss of gains made in such a would-be renegotiation is equally clear. A careful maintenance of the status quo focusing on ceremonial implementation was hardly the aim of any actor but has still become a reasonable description of the current situation. To promote progress in the field of human rights, academically as well as in society, it is crucial that the human rights discourse focuses more on known yet highly volatile issues such as these. The aim of this Special Issue is to contribute to a substantive discussion on human rights obligations and omissions by, among other things, formulating a concrete and functional critique of the understandings, assumptions and mechanisms for human rights protection and implementation. Manuscript Submission Information Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website: https://www.mdpi.com/user/register/ Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website. Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/philosophies/instructions Philosophies (ISSN 2409-9287) is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI. Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2021 Keywords - Human rights claims - Structural violations - Philosophy of obligations and omissions - Non-state actors - State sovereignty - Just satisfaction Special Issue Editors Dr. Cathrine Felix, Guest Editor Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Department of Philosophy, Lund University Interests: human rights and philosophy Web: https://www.fil.lu.se/en/person/CathrineFelix/ Dr. Olof Beckman, Guest Editor Division of Human Rights, Department of History, Lund University Interests: human rights obligations; legal system theory; law of responsibility Web: https://www.mrs.lu.se/en/person/OlofBeckman/ Journal website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/philosophies/ __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: https://interphil.polylog.org InterPhil List Archive: https://www.mail-archive.com/interphil@list.polylog.org/ __________________________________________________
